Every Parent's Nightmare is a simple and practical handbook for parents, teachers and healthcare professionals who have to deal with a child disclosing sexual abuse. It also helps parents reduce the likelihood of abuse in some instances by explaining the paedophile grooming process and highlighting which children are most at risk of being targeted.

A MUST READ BOOK FOR ALL ADULTS WHO HAVE CHILDREN OR DEAL WITH CHILDREN

Child abuse has to be one of the greatest evils in any society, a secretive sin that betrays innocence, destroys the essence of childhood, and can cause lifelong emotional pain and dysfunction.

Bruna Dessena has been a child abuse activist for more than 17 years. She was a Childline counsellor for many years, and a trainer and volunteer counsellor at the Teddy Bear Clinic in Johannesburg, where she also worked as a Senior Facilitator helping to prepare children and parents for court. As a parent herself, Bruna knows that every parent’s nightmare is that one day their child might be abused.

How do you deal with that? How do you help your child? What do you do first? What will happen next? What is necessary in terms of the law?

In Every Parent’s Nightmare Bruna answers all these questions and more. She tells you about paedophiles and paedophile rings, including how they groom children over time to gain their trust before they abuse them. She also covers the typical signs of abuse, what makes a child more susceptible to abuse, and then she covers what you need to do should you find out or suspect that your child is being abused. She also explains how children are prepared for court.

Written simply and without undue melodrama, Bruna gives it to you straight.

Recommended for all adults who have children or work with children, this book will help you to deal with the trauma if it’s already happening and to help guard against it happening in the future.

Sit down and buckle up as you read these stories of the streets from a paramedic’s point of view.

In Tales from my Stethoscope, Bruna, an Advanced Life Support paramedic with more than 23 years’ experience, takes you behind the scenes of accidents, sudden illness, shootings and human revelry­ gone wrong. You’ll experience the fun and excitement­ of Johannesburg on a Saturday night … but you’ll also go to the lonely places where old ­people suffer in silence­ and children aren’t properly­ cared for.

You’ll read about running a clinic on a mine in deepest Africa and being­ the resident­ paramedic on a geo-survey ship plying the waters around the globe. You’ll fly helicopters over cities praying that the patient survives, and you’ll be there in the middle of farming country helping to amputate a leg caught in a harvester.

If you can stomach the drama, the blood, the grief, and the quirky humour used to get through harrowing situations, you’ll get to the end of these tales with a deeper understanding of the human condition and renewed admiration and gratitude for those who listen and act when we call out in distress.

Once you have the book in hand, you won't want to put it down until you've finished it!